Civic Theatre rocks on with popular 'Rock of Ages' musical

Anthony Rizzuto as Drew in the Civic Theatre of Allentown production of 'Rock of Ages' at Cedar Crest College Feb. 9-25.

Anthony Rizzuto as Drew in the Civic Theatre of Allentown production of 'Rock of Ages' at Cedar Crest College Feb. 9-25. (Civic Theatre)

Margie PetersonSpecial to The Morning Call

With apologies to “Rock of Ages” author Chris D’Arienzo, people don’t really see the hit musical for the story.

They go to hear ’80s hits like “Don’t Stop Believin’,” “Hit Me with Your Best Shot,” “Can’t Fight This Feeling,” and “We Built This City.” If they’re of a certain age, they go to remember where they were when they first heard Joan Jett’s “I Hate Myself for Loving You,” Foreigner’s “Waiting for a Girl Like You” or other signature songs of the era.

That’s what Civic Theatre of Allentown is counting on when it stages “Rock of Ages” starting Friday at Alumnae Hall Auditorium at Cedar Crest College. It’s the first show in Civic’s temporary home while major renovations are done at its historic 19th Street building.

JONATHAN SHEHAB / CIVIC THEATRE

Brent Schlosshauer as rock star Stacee Jaxx in the Civic Theatre of Allentown production of 'Rock of Ages'

Brent Schlosshauer as rock star Stacee Jaxx in the Civic Theatre of Allentown production of 'Rock of Ages' (JONATHAN SHEHAB / CIVIC THEATRE)

Civic Associate Artistic Director Will Morris, who is directing “Rock of Ages,” says Civic wanted to kick off its 2018 season with a crowd-pleaser to make sure patrons followed the theater to the new venue.

“I love ‘big hair’ band music,” Morris says. “There’s just something so incredibly invigorating, uplifting, exciting about that age of music. There’s a lot of nostalgia for our demographic that typically comes out to Civic for that time period, for the music in that time period.”

The show includes songs by bands such as Journey, Twisted Sister, Night Ranger, Pat Benatar, REO Speedwagon, Poison, Styx and Bon Jovi.

Morris says he hopes some audience members will get in the spirit of the show and dress up in ’80s clothes and the iconic “big hair” once worn by celebrities like Julia Roberts and Jon Bon Jovi.

“I fully encourage anyone who wants to glam it up to do so and have a good time,” he says. “That’s what this rides on, the audience having a blast.”

Morris says “Rock of Ages” is one of the better “jukebox musicals” in which a story is constructed around hit songs. This one revolves largely around a young wide-eyed Midwesterner named Sherrie Christian, who arrives in Hollywood seeking to make it as an actress and meets Drew Boley, a boyish nice guy bussing tables at the legendary Bourbon Room club while aspiring to become a rock star.

Along the way they get tangled up with such characters as Stacee Jaxx, the egotistical lead singer of famed band Arsenal, and Bourbon Room manager Dennis Dupree and his sidekick Lonny Barnett, the show’s narrator. Mixed in are German developers who want to demolish the Bourbon Room, dashed hopes and lots of missed cues and misunderstandings.

“Whenever you get into a jukebox musical, the story can seem thin at times in order to make the songs make sense,” Morris says. “I think ‘Rock of Ages’ strikes a really great balance in terms of weaving stories that make sense with the songs. Nobody is really coming to ‘Rock of Ages,’ I think, to find out what the story is all about. Everybody is coming to listen to the music. And it just so happens that with that music, we’re presenting a really compelling, really fun, really engaging story.”

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The cast is a mix of local actors, students and some from New York City. Muhlenberg College student Rae Wessel plays Sherrie and Drew is played by area actor Anthony Rizzuto. Brent Schlosshauer is rock star Stacee Jaxx.

The show includes two dozen musical numbers with extensive choreography by actor and choreographer Deena Linn. A focal point of the show is the five-piece band, Arsenal, which is on stage, playing the dual role of being Jaxx’s band and performing the songs in the show. The production’s musical director, Tynan Hooker-Haring, plays bass guitar in Arsenal, with drummer Aaron Hetrick, keyboard player Nathan Diehl, and guitarists Jamie Mohamdein and Robert Dudley.

The show is not for young children. Some profanity, adult themes and some scantily clad characters make the musical more suitable for teenagers and older, Morris says. “I would rate it PG-13.”

Morris sees the prime audience as people in their late 20s to late 50s, anyone who grew up or came of age hearing those songs.

“I think that music has universal appeal because it is so effervescent,” Morris says. “That’s what I love about this time period in music. There’s nothing really subtle about it. It’s high glamour, it’s in your face but not in an off-putting way.”

Cedar Crest’s Alumnae Hall Auditorium seats about 500, roughly the same number as the Civic. But the stage is about half the width of the Civic’s so Morris has had to make adjustments.

“It reinvigorates how my brain thinks about staging,” he says. “As soon as you get into a different space, your synapses are firing in different ways because they have to and it kind of makes me personally more aware and alive in terms of what I’m thinking about how I want to stage something.”

The major renovation of the 90-year-old Civic Theatre is in full-swing. Thanks to a $5.5 million Capital Campaign, the classic old theater will get a restored ceiling, new seats, sound and lighting, an extended lobby and new box office area, updated stage equipment and a new patrons lounge, among other improvements, Morris says. The plan is to return to the theater in time for the kickoff of the 2018-19 season in October.

Coming up at Cedar Crest after “Rock of Ages” is “Shrek: The Musical Jr.” April 4-7 and “Tuesdays with Morrie” May 4-20.

For now, the “Rock of Ages” cast is planning to rock the heck out of Cedar Crest’s Alumnae Auditorium, starting with Poison’s ’80s hit “Nothin’ but a Good Time.”

“You’re going to walk out singing the songs,” Morris says. “As we say in the beginning, you’re going to have nothing but a good time. And that’s what we want for this one.”